Archive for the ‘Journeys’ Category
The Tree of Life
Often the challenges that life on the road can bring are tempered by the generosity and love we experience from some of the churches we visit around the country. As part of their mission conference last summer, a supporting church in Las Vegas had Christmas in June for the missionaries. Through their generosity and sacrifice our family was recently able to visit Disney World’s Animal Kingdom.
Animal Kingdom theme park is home to more than 1,700 animals from 250 species and sprawls across 500 acres of
lush landscape. We arrived when the park opened and went straight to Kilimanjaro Safari in the Africa area. There we rode an open-sided safari vehicle through a wildlife “preserve” and saw many different kinds of animals as they roamed the “savanna,” including lions, black rhino, giraffe, elephants, and hippos just to name a few. It was our favorite exhibit. From there we walked Maharajah Jungle Trek to see the various animals of northern Asia including Sandy’s favorite the tigers. Another highlight for Isaiah was riding the Expedition Everest roller coaster with his mama as Pearl and I watched from below. Since we had a park-hopper pass we were able to spend the remainder of the day at Magic Kingdom. It was one of those days as a family that we will cherish the rest of our lives.
One interesting feature of Animal Kingdom is its iconic centerpiece The Tree of Life. It is a sculpted 145-foot tall, 50-foot wide tree with a green canopy of synthetic umbrella like leaves. There is a swirling tapestry of 325 animals carved into the bark extending down to the gnarled roots and blending into the flora at its base. Brooks trickle through and waterfalls cascade around it creating the desired effect as an homage to nature.
As a student of the Bible I was interested in its title The Tree of Life. The concept of a tree of life can be found in various ancient cultures around the world. Rather than dispel the reality of such a tree ever existing, the number of accounts from so many varied sources actually point to a common history. They differ only because time and local cultural circumstances have embellished and altered the truth as found in the Bible.
Modern spiritualist, divorced from the truth of God’s word, see the Tree of Life as a symbol of the interconnectedness that we as humans share with the rest of the living beings on earth. To them the swirling interconnectedness of the animal sculpted carvings in the Disney Tree reflects this idea of a cosmic unity that binds us all.
Unfortunately the true connection that man and nature all share is the curse from the fall and its ramifications which include alienation from the life of God. The history of man unfolds between this paradise lost and the eventual paradise regained, between man being driven out from the Tree of Life and ultimately having right to it again.
The Tree of Life is mentioned three times in the Garden of Eden but it is lost because of man’s sin (Gen. 2:9; 3:22,24). It is then mentioned three times in the New Jerusalem as restored to its rightful place in the midst of paradise (Rev. 2:7; 22:2,14). The message between Genesis and Revelation is that Jesus Christ restores that which was lost. All that was lost in the fall of man God has restored to us through the person of his Son.
We can experience the Tree of Life today in type. The Tree is mentioned four times in the book of Proverbs and deals with the life of the godly man on earth and the fruit he bears (Prov. 3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4). It is the life of God in us imparted to us through Jesus Christ that should bring life to those around us. This type of interconnectedness with our fellow mankind is something all who have tasted of eternal life should desire.
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” – Proverbs 11:30
Daniel’s Story
Last month we presented the need for the gospel in Italy at Fairfax Baptist Temple in northern Virginia. We enjoyed the fellowship of our host family as well as the brethren we met at church. We had opportunity while in the area to visit Washington D.C. and spend an afternoon at the Holocaust Museum, the Native American Museum, as well as the Capitol Building.
Sandy and I had visited the Holocaust Museum earlier in our marriage and thought the main exhibit may be too intense for Isaiah so we toured an exhibition for children entitled “Daniel’s Story” where visitors experience the Holocaust through the eyes of a fictitious child named Daniel. His story is based on the actual experiences of German Jewish children during the Holocaust. The exhibition was designed to draw in younger viewers by focusing on one child’s high hopes and shattered dreams without presenting violent or graphic images.
The exhibit uses overhead narration, Daniel’s diary pages and a walk-through environment to see through Daniel’s eyes the increasingly restrictive laws and random violence against Jews, his family’s forced move from their comfortable middle-class home to the decrepit ghetto in Poland, their transport to a concentration camp, and Daniel’s life following liberation. The exhibit concludes with a short video narrated by “Daniel” which tells of his time in the concentration camp and it also reveals that Daniel and his father survived, that his mother and sister were gassed, and that more than one million Jewish, Polish, and Gypsy children were murdered. “Whenever I see children playing, I think of my little sister,” says Daniel. “I hear her giggles.”
Before exiting the exhibit, children have an opportunity to write down their reactions. Judging from the drawings and
messages posted on the walls, the visiting children have been drawn into Daniel’s world and are sobered by the reality of this tragic time in world history. We were curious what Isaiah would write as he picked up marker and paper. He held up his note that read, “That is sad! I hope it will never happen again.”
Sadly, the Bible tells another Daniel’s story that reveals a future Holocaust that will be much worse than that which was inflicted upon Europe by Hitler. It is known to Bible students as Daniel’s 70th Week. Daniel 9:24-27 gives 490 years of history and all have been fulfilled except the last seven years. In this portion of scripture, one week is equivalent to seven years so 70 weeks equals 490 years. After 69 “weeks” (483 years from the command to rebuild Jerusalem) Messiah was “cut off” (crucified), Jerusalem was destroyed (AD 70) and the Jews dispersed among the nations of the world. God’s people (Israel) have been out of fellowship with Him and out of their land and thus God’s “clock” has not been ticking. In 1948, Israel became a nation again and since that time Jews have been returning to the Land – God’s “clock” is about to start again ushering in Daniel’s 70th week. The last week (7 years) will be when the Antichrist is in power. This period is known as the Tribulation and is also called in scripture “the time of Jacob’s trouble.”
This horrific time when the wrath of God will be poured out upon the inhabitants of the earth is described in the books of Daniel and Revelation. Just as Daniel’s Story put a face to the anonymous mass of Jews killed by the Nazis we would do well to meditate on these scriptures and their implication for individuals we walk among that will be left behind if the rapture occurs in our lifetime. Consider for a moment that person who must choose to either allow his children to starve to death (“no man might buy… save he had the mark”, Rev. 13:17) and eventually himself be decapitated (“I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus”, Rev. 20:4) because he won’t take the mark of the Beast or choose to take the mark and be doomed without any hope of future salvation and spend eternity in hell (“If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark… The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God… and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone… for ever and ever”, Rev. 14:9-11). May we be sobered by the reality of this tragic time in world history yet to come.
As a postscript, the good news for Christians (see “Free Gift” on homepage on how to be saved) is that we will not go through any part of this seven-year Tribulation but will be “raptured” or taken up to be with the Lord before it begins. Rather than listing lengthy passages of scripture, here are some simple principles upon which this fact is based…
1. Present-day believers will be taken out of the world before the wrath of God is fully poured out on the earth. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 tells us that Jesus Christ has “delivered us from the wrath to come.” Paul later writes, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9). Hell is the wrath or judgment to which men will go. The wrath to come points to the Tribulation as defined in Revelation 6:17, “For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand?” In Revelation 15:7, seven vials are poured out upon the people living on this earth. The vials were “full of the wrath of God.”
2. If Present-day believers were appointed to wrath then we should be looking for the coming of the Antichrist, but we are told to look for the coming of the Son of God. We are not told to look for the Antichrist or for signs in the heaven or on earth. We are told in Titus 2:13, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” We are to be “waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:7). “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).
3. In Revelation chapters 2 and 3 we read of the activity of the local churches. Chapter 4 begins with a call, “Come up hither” which matches the detailed promise of the Lord’s call and the church’s departure found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Following this call, the Apostle John, a type or picture of the church (born again Christians), finds himself instantly before the throne of God in heaven (“After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”), and the Antichrist doesn’t show up until Revelation 6:2. The church on earth is not mentioned again during the chapters describing the Tribulation period.
4. The entirety of the seventy weeks of Daniel are said to be “determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city” (Daniel 9:24). God’s people in context are clearly the Jewish people and the holy city is Jerusalem. The Bible says that this time is for the purpose of completing God’s work with the Jewish people. The multitudes that will be redeemed out of all nations in the Tribulation is a side issue. The seventieth week is for the Jewish people. It is the “time of Jacob’s trouble,” not the church’s trouble.
5. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 details the coming of the Antichrist and the perilous times of his power; in verse 2 of that chapter we learn that this information should not trouble any child of God – it would be most troubling if we were going to be present in the Tribulation
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” – Matthew 24:21
Titanic
Last week we participated in the mission conference at Southern Hills Baptist Church in Las Vegas, NV. It was a very busy week but we really enjoyed connecting with the church staff and members as well as sharing our burden for reaching Italian souls for Christ.
During some downtime we were able to visit Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition, a traveling exhibit that is currently displayed in Las Vegas. Described as a floating palace, the incomparable Titanic was deemed “practically unsinkable” by the White Star Line and its builders. However, on a calm April night in 1912, the massive luxury liner struck an iceberg and slowly sank into the North Atlantic.
At the beginning of the exhibit, we received a boarding pass of an actual passenger on Titanic. On the back of each boarding pass were the age and the itinerary of that person. At the end of the tour, we found out if he or she survived Titanic by finding their name on a wall memorial. Sandy was Miss Edwina Celia Troutt. She had immigrated to the United States in 1907 but returned to her family home in England during the cold New England winter of 1911. She was traveling back to Massachusetts to be with her sister who was about to give birth. Isaiah was Major Arthur Godfrey Peuchen. He was returning from business in Europe. By the time he sailed on Titanic, Peuchen had crossed the Atlantic at least 40 times. I was Mr. Austin Blyler Van Billiard. Having left home in 1900, traveling to Europe, marrying and mining diamonds with his wife and children in Central Africa, Austin was returning home to Pennsylvania to see his father and establish himself as a diamond merchant.
The exhibit features numerous artifacts from Titanic recovered from 2½ miles below the surface of the ocean including luggage, the ship’s whistles, floor tiles, tools, plates, a piece of Titanic’s hull, passenger papers, gaming chips, as well as many other items including personal belongings from those making the fateful voyage. In addition, the exhibit features replicas from the ship that makes history come alive, including a full-scale recreation of the Grand Staircase. The exhibit allows visitors to walk through authentically recreated first and third class rooms as well as stroll the outer Promenade Deck, complete with the frigid temperatures felt on that tragic April night.
One of the most heartfelt elements of the exhibit is the personal stories of the passengers as well as their quotes. Take for instance the quote from second-class passenger Charlotte Collyer, who said, “‘Women and children first!’ Someone was shouting these last few words over and over again… They meant my own safety but they also meant the greatest loss I’ve ever suffered… the loss of my husband.” 705 passengers survived Titanic but 1,523 were lost. We found out at the end of the exhibit that the passengers represented by Sandy’s and Isaiah’s boarding passes survived, mine did not.
It was tragically ironic how many of the passengers had boarded Titanic at the last minute or contrary to their original plans. The boarding pass Sandy received for Miss Troutt revealed she was a second class passenger that was planning to return to America on Oceanic but was transferred to Titanic because of the coal strike. According to one placard in the exhibit even the ship’s captain, Edward John Smith, was entreated to come out of retirement in order to sail the maiden voyage of Titanic. He reportedly told his wife and daughter that this would be his last trip. Such dire consequences due to last minute decisions or to what some would call a simple twist of fate.
I thought of my own life and what has resulted, both good and bad, from seemingly small decisions or mere chance. One of the best things that ever happened in my life occured on July 5, 1998 when a young lady sat down beside me on the last row at Grace Baptist Church because she and a friend could not find an acquaintance in the large crowd, little did I know then that one day she would become my wife. Had she sat anywhere else in that large sanctuary we may never have met. Of course I would not chalk this up to fate but rather to providence.
“I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.” – Ecclesiastes 9:11